(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a backlight assembly, and more particularly, to a backlight assembly for supplying light to a plurality of partitioned sections of the backlight assembly and a display device having the same.
(b) Description of the Related Art
There are various types of display devices. As semiconductor technology has rapidly developed, small-sized, light-weight liquid crystal display devices with improved performance have been provided as a representative display device.
Since the liquid crystal display device has advantages including small size, light weight and low power consumption, the liquid crystal display device has been proposed as a substitute for a conventional cathode ray tube (“CRT”) display device. Recently, the liquid crystal display device has been used for almost all information processing devices including small-sized devices, such as mobile phones and portable digital assistants (“PDAs”), and medium-sized or large-sized devices, such as monitors and television (“TV”) sets.
In general, the liquid crystal display device includes an upper panel where a common electrode and color filters are disposed, a lower panel where thin film transistors and pixel electrodes are disposed and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the upper and lower panels. In the liquid crystal display device, different voltages are applied to the pixel electrode and common electrode to generate an electric field in the liquid crystal layer, so that alignment of liquid crystal molecules is changed. By adjusting transmittance of light passing through the liquid crystal layer, a desired image is obtained. In addition, since a non-emission type display panel is used for the liquid crystal display device, a backlight assembly is provided at a rear side of the display panel to supply light to the display panel.
In general, color filters are disposed in an inner portion of the display panel. However, since transmittance of the color filters is low, a large amount of light emitted from the backlight assembly is lost. Therefore, in order to secure a desired brightness of the display panel, the light intensity of the backlight assembly must increase, thus increasing power consumption. In addition, the color filters are more expensive than other components of the liquid crystal display device, and thus may be a major factor in increasing production costs of the liquid crystal display.
In order to solve these problems, a technique for implementing a full color image without the color filters has been proposed. The technique includes sequentially turning on and off red, green and blue light source units in a predetermined time interval. However, in this case, a response speed of the liquid crystals is low, such that a whole image cannot be driven in one frame. In order to solve this problem, a technique for partitioning the display panel into a plurality of sections and partitioning the backlight assembly for supplying light to the display panel has been implemented.
However, in this technique, the light may not be separately supplied to the sections. In addition, the light may be leaked into adjacent sections, so that unnecessary light and mixed light may be supplied. In addition, in an image displayed on the display panel, the partitioned sections or the boundaries between the partitioned sections may be recognized in viewing the image. Due to these phenomena, display performance and image quality deteriorate.